


Visiting Hours

by isabeau25



Series: Wander Home [15]
Category: Epic (2013)
Genre: Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-30
Updated: 2014-04-30
Packaged: 2018-01-21 09:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1545140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isabeau25/pseuds/isabeau25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nod pays Ronin many visits while he's recovering in the healers' ward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Visiting Hours

**Author's Note:**

> This follows directly after [I'll Go Stay with Ronin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1524920). As previously stated, I'm not very good at making up games. Mancala seemed like the type of game jinn children might play.

“Can we go see Ronin now?”

Orion jumped and looked down. They rarely had small children in their home anymore, and he had forgotten how quiet little feet could be. Nod looked up at him, rubbing his eyes tiredly. The poor boy had been up most of the night crying. Orion had stayed with him part of the night, but Marne had come in after midnight to sit with him so Orion could get some sleep before he had to go on duty. When he had checked on them, they had both been sleeping.

“How about breakfast first?” Orion asked.

“But it’s morning. You said we could go see Ronin in the morning,” Nod whimpered.

“I think Ronin might still be sleeping,” Orion said, “we should let him sleep a little more, then we’ll go see him.”

Nod considered, then nodded unhappily, “okay.”

“You’ll get to see him, don’t worry,” Orion rumpled his hair. “What would you like for breakfast?”

“I like honey brittle,” Nod leaned tiredly against Orion’s leg.

“Besides that,” Orion chuckled, reaching down to pat the boy’s head.

“We have acorn mush,” Nod yawned, “and Ronin lets me put honey and fruit in it.”

“We have plenty of that,” Orion said.

“I like lots of honey,” Nod mumbled.

“So I’ve heard,” Orion grinned down at him.

* * *

 “Ronin are you better yet?” Nod leaned over Ronin.

It was not quite as early as it had been when Nod had first woken up. He had fallen asleep again for another hour, and by the time he had woken, Orion had been gone. Marne had made him breakfast and let him put as much honey as he wanted in his acorn mush, then taken him to the healers’ ward to see Ronin.

“Still a little tired kiddo,” Ronin said, looking slightly more awake than he had the night before, “Cheep-Cheep kept me company. I think he might want to go with you now though.”

“Okay,” Nod yawned and plucked the stuffed animal off the stand, “how many more days until you come home?”

“Two or three,” Ronin smiled, “sleepy chickadee?”

“Yes,” Nod yawned and curled up against Ronin’s side, Cheep-Cheep in his arms, “Mrs. Marne is nice, but her house is all wrong. It’s not like our house.”

Ronin chuckled and wrapped his arm around the boy.

“Is he alright there Ronin?” Marne asked, an amused look on her face as Nod’s thumb found its way into his mouth.

“He’s find as long as he stays on this side,” Ronin stroked the child’s hair fondly, “he can stay for a while. Thanks for taking him Marne.”

“It’s no problem Ronin,” Marne reassured him, “don’t worry about it. It’s nice to have a little one around.”

“Yeah, it is.”

* * *

 “Ronin!” Nod scrambled up onto the bed excitedly.

“Did you have a good day chickadee?” Ronin asked, reaching out to steady him.

Marne had come in to wake Nod up just before lunch and taken him to eat. It was after dinner now, and Nod was back, much more awake and happy that Ronin was sitting up in bed this time.

“Mrs. Marne showed me pictures of birds I’ve never seen before,” Nod bounced, “they were in books and she told me all about them. There’s one that’s bigger than a deer and it can’t fly. It lives really far away and it’s called an ostrich.”

“I’m glad you had fun,” Ronin smiled.

“There’s another one called a toucan, and it’s black and white, and it has a really big beak and sometimes the beak is lots of colors,” Nod snuggled against Ronin’s side, “it eats fruit, just like me.”

“You eat more than just fruit,” Ronin laughed.

“We had stew for dinner,” Nod informed him, “I don’t know what it was made of, but I liked it, and I got honey brittle afterwards.”

Ronin nodded.

“There’s another bird called a crane. It has really long legs,” Nod continued, spreading his arms wide, “it eats fish and some of them fly really far when they migrate. Mrs. Marne said that sometimes merchants ride on them so they can go to really far-away places to get things.”

Marne had been a school teacher for centuries, although she was retired at the moment, and Ronin wasn’t at all surprised that she had found something Nod was interested in and proceeded to teach him about it. Ronin knew he would need to start looking into schooling for Nod soon. The boy wasn’t even close to being ready to be in a regular classroom, but if he was interested in learning things, Ronin needed to find a way to let him do that. Maybe Marne would have some ideas.

“Then there was this one called a flamingo and it has a really long neck that it can bend in half and it lives in water and…”

Ronin rested his cheek against Nod’s hair and listened contently to his chatter.

* * *

 “We had pancakes for breakfast,” Nod informed Ronin with a yawn, “they were different from the ones you make. They had nuts in them, and they were a different color, but they were still good. What did you have for breakfast?”

“Acorn mash,” Ronin was fairly sure that was what he had eaten; he hadn’t quite been awake yet when the healers came in insisting he eat.

“Was there fruit and honey?” Nod asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” he didn’t remember there being any anyway.

“That’s no good,” Nod sprawled on his back across the foot of the bed, holding Cheep-Cheep in the air, “I’ll ask Mrs. Marne if we can bring some for you.”

“That’s alright,” Ronin chuckled, “I don’t mind.”

“But it’s better with fruit,” Nod protested, “I’ll tell Miss Glory. She gave me a maple sucker last time I was here. I’ve never had one before. It was really good, but not as good as honey brittle. Miss Glory is nice. She’ll give you fruit.”

“I’ve never gotten you maple suckers?” Ronin supposed it wasn’t impossible. It was hard to keep track of the sweets Nod slipped into the shopping basket when he came to the market with Ronin.

“No,” Nod stretched his legs, pushing himself back until his head was hanging upside down over the edge of the bed, “it was good, but I like honey brittle better.”

“Is there anything you like more than honey brittle?” Ronin laughed.

“I like Cheep-Cheep more than honey brittle,” Nod flew his bird over his head, “and I like the jacket Finn got me, the one with all the buckles, and I don’t think it’s too small for me,” Nod lifted his head to pout at Ronin.

“Then you’re too big for it,” Ronin shrugged, “I’ll ask Finn where he got it and see if we can get you a bigger one.”

“But I like that one,” Nod let his head fall back, “I like you better than honey brittle, or Cheep-Cheep, or my jacket that isn’t too small for me.”

Ronin was caught between being very touched and wanting to laugh.

“Come here,” he leaned forward and tugged on Nod’s ankle.

Nod sat up and crawled across the bed to Ronin, who pulled him onto his lap. The healers didn’t want him lifting Nod, but they hadn’t said anything about holding him.

“I like you better than honey brittle too,” he kissed the boy’s cheek, “or seed cake.”

* * *

 “Ronin, I met a girl!” Nod clamored up onto the bed, almost spilling the drink sitting on the tray on Ronin’s lap.

“What?” Ronin almost choked on his stew.

“Her name is Maisy. She’s Mrs. Marne’s great-great-great-great granddaughter.” Nod counted off the ‘greats’ on his fingers, “we played with blocks and built really tall towers and then we knocked them down and we had to find all the blocks and some of them went under the couch and I found a button that Mrs. Marne said I could keep and one of the blocks went behind the bookshelf and we couldn’t reach it, but Mrs. Marne said that was okay.”

“Ah,” Ronin took a drink to clear his throat, “I’m glad you got to meet a new friend.”

Most of the time when Ronin heard that phrase that was not what the Leafman meant by it. Nod was still too young for that sort of thing, but it had still surprised Ronin to hear that particular phrase come out of his mouth.

“We learned a new game,” Nod settled on his knees facing Ronin, “there’s a board with all these dents and the dents have pretty rocks in them, and you move the rocks around the board.”

Ronin had to work through the description twice before he realized what Nod was talking about, “mancala?”

“Yes, that one,” Nod bounced a little, “the rocks were really shinny, but Maisy was better at it than me and she kept winning.”

“You’ll get better the more you play,” Ronin reassured him, going back to his dinner.

“Can Maisy come play at our house?” Nod asked, “then we can play and I can get better at it.”

“Yeah, I’ll ask her parents when I get home,” Ronin nodded.

“When are you coming home?” Nod leaned forward, “can you come home now? You don’t look sick anymore.”

“Maybe tomorrow evening or the morning after,” Ronin told him, “I have to talk to the healers about it.”

“You should say ‘please’,” Nod said matter-of-factly, “you said that when you say ‘please’ people like it, and they say yes more often.”

Ronin laughed at having his words repeated back to him. It was always nice to know Nod listened sometimes.

“I don’t think this is that sort of question,” Ronin said, “some questions need a true answer, even if we don’t like it.”

“But it will be a good answer because you can come home soon, right?” Nod’s brow furrowed, “you’ve already been here forever. You’re supposed to be home soon. That’s what Miss Glory said.”

“Three days is not forever,” Ronin reached out and tweaked his nose, making him giggle, “and neither is four if I have to stay another day.”

“It’s like forever,” Nod pouted.

“But you got to have fun with Maisy, didn’t you?” Ronin pointed out.

“We hid under the bed and ate honey brittle, and Mrs. Marne couldn’t find us,” Nod giggled.

Ronin had to fight down his laughter. The chances of Marne not knowing where they had been was slim, but Ronin couldn’t bring himself to burst Nod’s gleeful bubble.

* * *

 "But I wanted you to come home today,” Nod stomped his foot and glared up at Ronin.

“Sorry chickadee,” Ronin shook his head, “it’s just two more days though.”

Ronin was sorry. He didn’t particularly like being in the healers ward, and he was starting to realize just how much he missed having Nod underfoot all the time. He was surprised by how much he missed the space being filled with Nod’s chatter. He had always considered himself someone who liked the quiet, and he got very little of it in his job, so he had valued coming home to the silence of an empty apartment. Now the quiet in the healers ward just seemed empty without Nod to fill it.

“Come here,” Ronin patted the bed beside him.

Nod glared stubbornly for a moment more, then relented and climbed up on the bed to sit next to Ronin.

“I would much rather be home with you,” Ronin wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulders, “but for right now I have to stay here.”

“But I want to go home, and I want to sleep in your bed, and I want you to tell me stories and play with me,” Nod sniffled.

“Tell you what,” Ronin said, “when I get home I’m going to be off work for a week or two, so I’ll get to stay home with you the whole time. How does that sound?”

“Two weeks,” Nod held up two fingers.

“Probably,” Ronin nodded.

“Can we play mancala and will you tell me stories about birds?” Nod leaned against him.

“Yep, I will,” Ronin gave him a squeeze.

“Okay, I guess,” Nod agreed.

For the first time he could remember, Ronin was glad that he would be on forced leave.

* * *

 Queen Tara was sitting on the edge of Ronin’s bed when Nod walked in, and he looked at her uncertainly for a moment, then marched up to her.

“Tell Miss Glory that Ronin has to come home now,” Nod demanded, “Ronin says everyone has to do what you say because you’re the queen.”

“Does he now?” Tara scooped Nod up into her lap, cuddling him and covering him with kisses until he was squirming and laughing, “that’s funny, because I distinctly remember telling him not to get hurt.”

Ronin gave a long suffering sigh, and Nod looked between them in confusion.

“Maybe he didn’t hear you,” the boy snuggled against the queen; he liked the way her dress felt, and she was always warm and smelt nice.

“Should I be louder next time?” Tara smiled down at him.

“You should be really loud,” Nod kicked his feet enthusiastically, “like Ronin is when there are lots of Leafmen, and they’re being noisy, and he has to get their attention. Then he’ll hear you, and he’ll have to do what you say.”

“Because I’m queen,” Tara gave him a bemused look.

“Yes,” the boy nodded, “and you can tell Miss Glory, and Ronin can come home now and be with me.”

“It doesn’t work that way sweetie,” Tara told him gently.

“But why not?” Nod frowned up at her.

“Because some things even a queen can’t control,” Tara smoothed back his hair, “I can’t make Ronin heal any faster no matter how much I want him to, and he needs to stay here until he’s a little more healed.”

“But you make plants grow,” Nod curled his fingers around one of the petals of her skirt, “why can’t you make Ronin’s hurts grow back together?”

“People aren’t plants chickadee,” Ronin explained, “it doesn’t work like that.”

“It should,” Nod huffed and folded his arms over his chest.

“Yeah,” Tara hugged him close, “I think it should too.”

“Nod, tell Queen Tara about the birds Mrs. Marne has been showing you,” Ronin prompted before the boy could fall too far into his sulk.

Nod brightened immediately, “there’s one called an African grass owl, and it lives really far away on the other side of the ocean and an ocean is like a lake only so big no one can swim across it except fish. It has spots on its front and a white face that’s flat and…”

Tara and Ronin exchanged amused looks over Nod’s head, and Tara mouthed _don’t get hurt next time_.

Ronin nodded, _I’ll try._

* * *

 “Ronin! You’re home!” Nod dropped the bag he was carrying and raced into the room.

“I am,” Ronin helped Nod clamor up onto his lap and hugged him tight; he still wasn’t supposed to pick him up.

“Mrs. Marne said we couldn’t come see you this morning because you were getting ready to come home,” Nod snuggled against him, “and then we had to eat breakfast and then we had to pack, and guess what!”

“What?” Ronin let Nod squirm free of his hold so he could race back to the door where Marne was toeing off her shoes.

“Mrs. Marne said I could keep the book with all the birds,” Nod crouched down and opened the bag he had been carrying, pulling out a book that was so large it took both hands to carry it.

“Thank you,” Ronin told Marne sincerely, “for everything. Really.”

“He was a pleasure to have,” Marne smiled, “anytime you need help with him just let us know.”

Nod raced back to Ronin, and nearly fell trying to climb into the chair with the book in his hands. Ronin laughed and caught the book, taking it so Nod could climb up.

“I’m going to go put his things in his room,” Marne picked up the bag Nod had left laying in the middle of the floor.

“Thank you,” Ronin steadied Nod as he opened the book.

“Look!” Nod pointed to a white bird with a graceful neck and a black beak, “this is a swan, and they’re really pretty.”

“Yes they are,” Ronin agreed.

“And these squiggly lines,” Nod pointed to the writing next to the picture, “these are words and they tell all about the birds, and Mrs. Marne said she could teach me to read them, and then I could tell the names of all the birds and all about them.”

Ronin blinked. He read to Nod all the time. He hadn’t realized Nod wasn’t making the connection between what he was saying and the words on the page.

“Do you want to learn how to read?” Ronin asked.

“Yes!” Nod bounced excitedly, “Mrs. Marne started teaching me letters. I know how to write an N but it’s not as nice as her Ns.”

“We can talk about it later,” Marne patted Ronin on the shoulder, “for now, I put a slate and chalk in with his things. He can work on his letters if he wants. Just have him practice writing them. If he’s having trouble let him trace over your letters.”

“You are a wonder Marne,” Ronin shook his head.

“Mrs. Marne,” Nod corrected.

“Mrs. Marne,” Ronin agreed, tickling Nod until he dissolved into giggles.

“I’m going to leave you two to it,” Marne squeezed Ronin’s shoulder, “remember Nod, the healers said Ronin can’t carry you for a while.”

“I remember,” the boy nodded, “and he’s not supposed to move around a lot or lift heavy things. I’ll make sure he’s good.”

Ronin pressed his face into Nod’s hair to smother his laughter.

“Good,” Marne smiled, “he needs someone to take care of him.”

“I can take care of him!” Nod bounced happily, “he takes care of me, so I can take care of him too.”

“And you do an excellent job of it,” Marne rumpled his hair.

“He does,” Ronin agreed.

Nod waved happily to Marne as she left and told her goodbye, then settled in Ronin’s lap with his new book open.

“This one is called a red-capped cardinal,” the boy pointed to a black and white bird with a brilliant red head, “except it’s not a cardinal at all. It’s a finch.”

Ronin nodded in all the right places, absently stroking the boy’s hair as he pointed out every new bird he had learned about. It was good to finally be home.


End file.
